


Bríd Óg Ní Mháille

by SgtLeppard



Series: Fréamhacha [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Irish Keith (Voltron), Korean Keith (Voltron), Light Angst, Singer Keith (Voltron), Singing, keith was a choirboy, maybe romantic if you squint, platonic klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-02-01 17:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12709977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SgtLeppard/pseuds/SgtLeppard
Summary: Lance overhears Keith humming to himself and gets curious.





	Bríd Óg Ní Mháille

**Author's Note:**

> Woo! My first Voltron fic!
> 
> I have nothing to say except I just wanted an excuse to have Keith sing in Irish Gaelic, and then it turned into a headcanon that he's part Irish
> 
> I'll go to my corner now :'D
> 
>  **EDIT:** So S5 pretty much threw my headcanon into the icy ocean to drown. Oh well, AUs exist for a reason :D

Lance had never been surprised to pass by a room in the Castle of Lions and hear someone singing or humming to themselves. Pidge sometimes hummed while she worked on projects. Shiro and Hunk would occasionally sing along to something that came up on the radio. Even Allura and Coran had been caught humming old Altean songs, which while he had no idea what they meant, they sure sounded beautiful. Lance figured he was an okay singer, though he mostly just sang while in the shower.

What he didn't expect was to hear humming coming from Keith's room.

 _What the-- Keith can sing???_ He should've considered the possibility, but then again, the very idea of Keith singing just seemed ludicrous. Still, the Blue Paladin was curious. He backtracked to Keith's door, carefully sliding it open. Looking inside, he could see Keith sharpening one of his knives -- good God, how many knives the man own? -- while continuing to hum whatever song he was humming. His voice was relatively low, somewhere around a mid to low tenor, Lance surmised. Smooth, which was a little odd, but not unwelcome. With each intake of breath, his stomach expanded while his shoulders remained still, allowing his voice to be full and devoid of breathiness. Christ, he didn't just know how to sing, he knew how to sing _properly!_

Keith's attention turned towards the door, his voice cracking as he coughed in surprise. Lance couldn't remember the last time he looked so red. "H-how long were you standing there?"

Lance shrugged. "Not long." Actually, he wasn't really sure. He'd been too enamoured with the Red Paladin's voice to keep track of time.

Keith shifted his gaze away for a moment, then returned them back to Lance. "You speak of this to nobody."

"Not a soul," Lance responded, making a zipping motion over his mouth before closing the door behind him and taking a seat on the bed. "What were you humming anyway?"

"Something my mom used to sing to me when I was little to help me sleep or when I was scared."

 _Oh._ Keith didn't really talk about his family much of at all, so hearing this intrigued Lance.

"It's called 'Bridget O'Malley'," he continued. "It's a traditional Irish folk song. She was named after it."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Irish? I thought your mom was Galra?"

"She was," Keith answered, "but... I don't think she was full-blooded Galra."

"You're thinking she might be part human, like you?"

Keith sighed. "I mean, I won't know for certain, but it's likely." He twirled the knife in his hands. "Her name, this song, this knife, and her heritage... It's all I have to remember her by."

Lance couldn't even begin to imagine how his own life would be drastically different if he only had so little to remember his own family by. He knew it was worse for Keith as he had no family left, aside from Shiro.

He shifted the topic back to the song. "How does the song go?"

"Depends on the language," Keith said. "My mom always sang it in Gaelic, so I only know it in Gaelic. It's the reason I learned it, to keep it up."

Lance's eyes widened. "Gaelic!?" This only caused Keith to snicker. "I get Korean and Japanese, but you know _Gaelic?_ Isn't it a dead language?"

"Not necessarily. It is dying, however, since less and less people are learning to speak it. It's difficult enough to read as it is." He chuckled. "I'll give you the perfect example." He reached under his bed and grabbed a small journal, took out the pencil wedged in the coil, and flipped to a blank page. In big letters, he wrote 'CAOIMHE' in the corner of the page. "Try to pronounce that."

"Um... 'cow-eem-hay'?" Judging by Keith's snickering, Lance just knew he butchered it. "How is it pronounced then?"

"It's pronounced 'kee-va'," Keith laughed.

"What the fuck-- how do you get 'kee-va' out of... that?"

"Anglicisation. I know, it's weird."

"What does 'Caoimhe' mean, anyway?"

Keith answered, "It's actually a name."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. From what I remember, that would've been my name if I was a girl."

Lance raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yep."

"Wow..." _Gaelic must be a clusterfuck of a language to learn,_ Lance thought. 'Caoimhe Kogane' did have something of a ring to it if he gave it some thought.

Keith shifted a little as he put the journal away. "Did you... want to hear the song?"

Wait, what. "You want to sing it to me?"

"If you keep this between us."

Lance saluted. "Scout's honour."

Keith snorted. "Nerd." It had been a long while since Keith had the courage to sing in front of anyone, but Lance was only one person, not a full auditorium. He can handle one person.

He took a deep breath and slowly began to sing.

 _♪Is a Bhríd Óg Ní Mháille_  
_'S tú d'fhág mo chroí cráite♪_

Whoa.

 _♪'S chuir tú arraingeacha_  
_An bháis trí cheartlár mo chroí_  
_Tá na mílte fear i ngrá_  
_Le d'éadan ciúin náireach_  
_Is go dtug yú barr breáchtacht'_  
_are Thír Oirghiall más fíor♪_

Lance listened intently, taking note of every little quirk Keith's voice produced and trying to pick up on certain things about the language. As complicated as he knew it was, it sounded beautiful. Thankfully, it seemed his undivided attention gave Keith the courage to continue.

 _♪Níl ní bith is áille_  
_Ná'n ghealach os cionn a' tsáile_  
_Ná bláth bán na n-airne_  
_Bíos ag fás are an droigheann_  
_Ó siúd mar bíos mo ghrá-sa_  
_Níos trilsí le breáchtacht_  
_Béilín meala na háilleachta'_  
_Nach ndearna claon♪_

As Keith continued singing, the Blue Paladin noticed a smile begin to form on his face. This song must've reminded him of happier memories, what little he had of his mother. Lance had a long list of songs that reminded him of home and family and happy times. They never failed to bring a smile to his face. He knew the look anywhere. The power a single song can have on one's emotions.

 _♪Is buachaill deas óg mé_  
_'Tá triall chun mo phósta_  
_'S ní buan i bhfad beo mé_  
_Mura bhfaighidh mé mo mhian_  
_A chuisle is a stóirín_  
_Déan réidh agus bí romhamsa_  
_Cionn deireanach den Domhnach_  
_are Bhóithrín Dhroim Sliabh♪_

The more Lance listened, the more he wished he knew what the song was about, but he didn't dare interrupt to ask. While he had never been big on religion, it felt like a sin to stop the angelic voice that belonged to his teammate.

 _♪Is tuirseach 's brónach_  
_A chaithimse an Domhnach_  
_Mo hata I' mo dhorn_  
_'S mé ag osnaíl go trom_  
_'S mé ag amharc are na bóithre_  
_'Mbíonn mo ghrá-sa ag gabhail ann_  
_'S í ag fear eile pósta_  
_Is gan í bheith liom_

 _'S í ag fear eile pósta_  
_Is gan í bheith liom♪_

Keith finally finished the song with a wistful sigh. Lance knew the feeling. Blushing a little, Keith turned to Lance. "So what do you think?"

"I wish I knew how to speak Gaelic," Lance mumbled, still in awe over Keith's wonderful singing voice. "And you sing really well. H-how are you that good of a singer?"

Keith rubbed the back of his neck. "Would you believe me if I told you I sang in a choir for four years?"

Lance snorted. "You were a choirboy?"

"It was a school choir, shut up."

"Still, choir." Lance couldn't help the guffaws.

Keith's face burned bright red. "Laugh it up, laugh it up..."

Lance composed himself a moment later. "You don't seem the choir type, learning music theory and all."

Shrugging, Keith responded, "Not a lot of kids in that choir seemed that way, but everyone had a reason for being there."

Lance threw him a bone. "What was yours?"

"To honour my mom's memory as best I could. She loved to sing. I can almost hear her now..." If Keith thought about it hard enough, he could hear his mother's mezzo soprano voice clear as day.

"Keith." Lance placed a hand on his shoulder, nearly startling him from his reverie. "She would be proud of you, in more ways than one."

Keith drew his gaze up. "You really think so?"

Lance smiled. "Yeah."

Keith returned the smile. "Thanks."

A few moments later, Lance left for his own room to turn in for the night. As he went through his nightly routine, his mind kept going back to Keith's singing. The other Paladins would love his voice, but yeah, if Keith wanted the others to know, he'd tell them himself. Lance knew it wasn't his place to spill Keith's secrets. For now, as he laid down in his bed, it stayed between them.

Sleep slowly worked its fingers through him, and the last thing he remembered before drifting off was softly humming the Irish song's melody, acting as the lullaby that had lulled Keith to sleep all those long lost years ago.

**Author's Note:**

> Basically just imagine Steven Yeun singing [this](http://sgtleppards-tunes.tumblr.com/post/97734056526/deirdreofsorrows-the-corrs-brid-og-ni-mhaille)


End file.
